Stormwatch

Routine arrest or police brutality?

OAK HILL – Neighbors are bringing attention to a home on Halstead Avenue after a man is beaten and arrested in Fayette County over the weekend.

They are claiming police brutality.

“There was blood spatter all over the walls, all over the floor there was blood,” says neighbor Krystal Lewis.

Several neighbors spoke to us anonymously, explain what they saw over the weekend.

“Kenny was mad, he was cursing, he was hurt, he was lying on his side. I could see the blood and I could see him in the fetal position.”

A second neighbor says she saw a similar sight.

“He was laying on his left side with a towel under his head, and it had bled through the towel and left a big blood stain on the carpet.”

Neighbors say the officer went too far after responding to a fight call.

“His face was completely busted up, his eye was swollen shut, and he was bleeding from his head,” says Lewis.

It’s clear witnesses saw one side of the story. But law enforcement may have seen another.

“When the officer was trying to deal with him, he was pretty belligerent, may have been intoxicated at the time,” says Oak Hill Police Chief, Michael Whisman.

“I can assure you, if he was being belligerent, the officer was probably arresting him, and he is charged with resisting arrest and obstructing an officer and intoxication. So that tells me he was not complying with what the officer was telling him.”

With their dad bleeding on the floor, witnesses say they heard his kids crying through the ordeal.

“Those poor kids are going to have to grow up living with seeing this happen to their dad,” says a neighbor.

Another adds they might grow up scared of police, “They're not going to trust police because that's the image they have of a police officer.”

But Chief Whisman disagrees, “If you're dealing with police, if you're complying with what the police officer says, there's no reason to be scared of police, but if you're out here drinking, and not complying, then you might have reason to be fearful of getting arrested and going to jail.”

As the suspect and witnesses come forward, police will have a thorough investigation.